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Here's to Your Health:  Sicko  |
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Rebekka Mae
True Blue Farmgirl
965 Posts
Rebekka
Moscow
ID
USA
965 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 23 2008 : 10:16:46 PM
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Have you watched Sicko?
If so let's hear it. I just finished watching and I am so saddened. I knew that the health care crisis was horrible but I had no idea how effective socialized medicine is in countries like England, Canada and France. I feel like the media has misled us into believing that these countries provide insufficient care. Why are my friends losing their homes over health care costs when there are so many good models of taxpayer funded health care to follow? Even if you are not a fan of Michael Moore we are, as a country, in a state of crisis.
So what is next and why are all our presidential candidates still focused saving private insurance?
I look forward to a positive discussion, Rebekka
www.bebebella.etsy.com
As a woman I have no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world.
Virginia Woolf |
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levisgrammy
True Blue Farmgirl
9382 Posts
Denise
Beavercreek
Ohio
USA
9382 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2008 : 09:52:54 AM
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Maybe, look at this way Rebekka. If we don't have private insurance and it is all socialized then what choices will we have but to go to the doctors someone else chooses for us. My brother had the Canadian healthcare system. It is not all it's cracked up to be. First come first serve sort of thing. If someone else is choosing to cover the cost then someone else will be making the decision and not we ourselves.
farmgirl sister #43
Kind hearts are gardens
Kind thoughts are roots
Kind words are blossoms
Kind deeds are Fruits
www.torismimi.blogspot.com
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
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Rebekka Mae
True Blue Farmgirl
965 Posts
Rebekka
Moscow
ID
USA
965 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2008 : 10:41:14 AM
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Do we really have the freedom of choice in our medical care?
I know of many people with health insurance that are continually denied and are unable to see specialists. We have close friends who are incredibly frugal and worked hard to save up for a house, the husband works at a great company and has 'good' insurance and they will lose their house in a few months because their daughter was born needing a heart transplant. Their medical co-pays are at about $700 per month and will double soon when help from the hospital ends. Any system has room for improvement and room for complaints but really- if you are able to see any doctor you choose in our country you are a rare case, only the rich and the well insured can do this. When I belonged to an HMO I had to be pre-approved for everything, including an ER visit for my daughter. Who has time to be pre-approved for an ER visit, I was even at an in network hospital.
It is interesting to look at infant mortality rates, we are 37th in the world, right behind South Korea and Cuba (Canada is 22nd). As far as life expectancy we are 45th in the world, Bosnians have a longer life expectancy than we do and Canadians live three years longer on average.
The best thing about our country is it's ability to take the best that the world has to offer and to make it our own...perhaps we can do that here. Maybe Canada's system is not perfect but Canadians are healthier by many measures. Let's take what works and improve upon it.
Nance- how is France?
www.bebebella.etsy.com
As a woman I have no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world.
Virginia Woolf |
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electricdunce
True Blue Farmgirl
2544 Posts
Karin
Belmont
ME
USA
2544 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2008 : 10:59:02 AM
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| My daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes when she was ten years old. In the beginning her little vials of insulin cost $15 for one and $11 for the other. Now the insulin costs almost $80 a vial, the price of syringes and test strips are very steep as well. My doctor told me since my girl is on synthetic insulin it probably costs them just a few pennies to make a vial. I feel like the drug problem in the country is at the drug store. Sorry to rant, I just get overwhelmed with these things sometime. I haven't watched Sicko yet, I have to wait till later in the season, February is what my father always called "hanging season", when you;d fine people dangling from the rafters in the barn. A friend of mine mentioned a couple of movies he rented the other day and I told him he better have a doctor's certificate this time of year...sorry to blather, Karin. The sun is out and it's beautiful... |
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DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Feb 24 2008 : 11:19:53 AM
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People whine, but I think we have it pretty darn good here. It costs my dh and I $96.00 per month for medical insurance. This covers everything except ambulance ($54), physiotherapy and a chiropractor. For that, we pay $36 per month through my dh's employer and the extra insurance allows us twelve visits per annum for physio and chiro. Our prescription medications are subsidized on an income based scale.
I have four walk-in, urgent care clinics within 1/2 hr of where we live and a full-scale trauma center and general hospital about 20 minutes from me. All of which is free. Patients are triaged based on urgency and while I have had to wait, I honestly cannot say I have ever had to wait an unacceptable amount of time. Now I haven't had to be placed on a waitlist for a hip or knee replacement either (roughly a year's wait).
I am able to pick my own primary care physician and have been blessed with a wonderful doc for the past 30 years. I can't make an appointment to see a specialist, I must have a referral and the appointment must be made through my GP. While I have limited say in who I am referred to, I trust my GP to send me to a good one.
All in all, I think our system is as good as it can get with the costs associated with it and increasing population.
Di
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Here's to Your Health: Sicko |
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Sicko
